These are real stories from people like you, interested in improving life at Mayo Clinic. They were published to this page unedited and unfiltered by Mayo-friendly media. The Mayonnaise, which Mayo’s Department of “External Relations” spreads liberally over every story, to make it NICE, sweet smelling and palatable to the public, has been scrubbed off to provide you with a more balanced picture of life at Mayo Clinic.

86 Responses to “Mayo Watch”

Anonymous

My Story

I was a nurse at St. Mary’s in Rochester. My back went out and the Doctors in the Employee Health Service thought that it was a strain. Was off work for a little while but they sent me back to work when I still had pain. The first day back I hurt my back in the same place and went back to employee health. Without ever taking X-rays or doing any other test, they sent me to work hardening at Rehabilitation. I steadily got worse. My supervisor kept asking when I would be back and the rehab people kept telling me that I would have to put up with some pain. They never really believed me that the pain was excruciating. And I continued to exercise and go to rehab every day. Mayo wouldn’t pay me my salary after my sick days were used up even though I was still going to rehab and trying to get back to work. At one point I actually got a letter from personnel saying I was out of a job because I had not shown up for work!

I was visiting friends in Minneapolis when I met a rehab Doc who said something else was wrong and to see some one about it. When I asked the Mayo rehab folks about it they denied there was any reason to believe that there was anything but muscle strain and wouldn’t do any more tests. I went back to employee health and they wouldn’t even examine me or refer me to anyone else. They made remarks that were not supportive about my “low pain threshold” and said I was in danger of loosing my job if I didn’t get back to work. I asked about other work I could do and they said that RN’s need to be able to work anywhere they are needed so the schedule wouldn’t get complicated.

I went to my own doctor at Mayo, and he was concerned that something drastic was wrong. He scheduled some x-rays and tests and when I called back to get the appointments his secretary told me that I had to check in with Employee Health Service. When I did the Doctor there was nasty to me accusing me of going behind her back and stated that I needed to follow her plan for work hardening at rehab.

That’s when I went to Minneapolis for diagnosis and treatment. My injury required major three back surgeries over three years and I am not able to work in nursing anymore. Mayo took everything I worked so hard to accomplish in my career. When I got treatment outside the system, Mayo refused to pay for the treatment and even got information from my QRC which was supposed to be confidential. I later found out the QRC felt she had an obligation to inform Mayo since they were paying the bills. I finally had to get an attorney to get the treatment paid for. I never did get my salary paid or training for a new job. Now I am limited to what I can do and even taking care of my kids is impossible with out help.

I wrote the powers that be down at Mayo and they didn’t even feel obligated to answer my letters. I don’t think they care about anything except how much money they make and keeping everything nice appearing. It’s not nice when you have a problem. Mayo is a mean monster when it comes to helping you through a serious work injury. It’s like they are perfectly willing to put you through every test known to man, if and only if, insurance is paying. When I was a nurse, we saw a lot of that, and sometimes the patients didn’t even survive the tests that were not necessary! But when Mayo is on the hook, look out. They go back to stone-age medicine. Even my personal Physician couldn’t order the tests he believed I needed because I was on employee health. I could tell he was angry and even said that the people in Employee Health are high ranking in administration, work closely with Personnel and made it clear to him, through his department administrator, that he was to “keep hands off” my case.

My advice is to stay away from employee health at all cost and to get an attorney the moment Mayo refuses to pay for treatment or salary from a job injury. And don’t confide in your Rehab folks either because they copy everything to Mayo personnel and Legal gets it from there. Even “outside” QRC’s were giving personal information to Mayo which ended up at legal who refused to pay for disability. Since Mayo is self- insured, everything they don’t pay out adds to the bottom line and to administrator’s salaries. The place is corrupt. Don’t believe a thing they say.

What a great idea. It’s about time someone got it straight about what goes on down there. I worked there 20 years ago lifting patients for tests etc. Well my back went out several times and it got to the point where I couldn’t lift the patients on the tables anymore. My boss told me that if I couldn’t do the work then I should find another job somewhere else. When I went to personnel to see if I could get on in another department where I didn’t have to lift so much they said they didn’t have anything for me. At the same time a buddy of mine got hired off the street and told me they were looking for guys on maintaince. When I went back to ask they said I wasn’t qualified even though I started out in maintaince when I first worked there!

So I went to school and got a job at IBM. Didn’t find out till years later that Mayo had screwed me out of my job and the least they should have done is Workman’s Comp. to let me work in another job or train me for a new one. My buddy worked at the clinic and the same thing happened to him. Only he got a lawyer and got paid training and rehab to boot. His lawyer says the Clinic ignores the law all the time because they are self insured and won’t give any workman’s comp unless you get a lawyer.

If you get hurt on the job or if the job makes an injury or illness worse, they owe you workman’s comp period. You get paid for rehab time and different work if you can’t do your job. If it’s permanent disability you get more money for that too. But you can’t take Mayo’s word for anything. Get a lawyer right away.

FYI, Best Buy outsources to INDIA. This is why they have the millions to donate to Mayo in Rochester. To all of our brothers in India: Thanks for working for two dollars an hour so Best Buy can donate to Mayo to save the world from cancer. The CEOS and their cronies are lining their pockets with the sweat of your labor. Just imagine, if Best Buy would have paid American wages, Mayo would not have gotten so much money!!!

Somebody just told us that Big 5 Sports store has better benefits then Mayo now. Many employees are complaining that they are double billed and the insurance isnt coming through for them. COBRA is sky high when the addendum came out a few weeks ago. It has doubled!!!! My friend who quit pays 1500 a month for a famiy. Give me a break!!!!!

I left Mayo a while ago. Argueably the smartest / doumbest thing I’ve done.
Being in middle management, I knew things I couldn’t share. I couldn’t handle the deception and inconcideration for employees.
Old line employees that haven’t been anywhere else are hoodwinked into believing they have great benefits. They have nothing to compare to. Almost every whrere else I’ve worked has had better benefits.
They send out a yearly statement that shows how much they give toward your benefits. You can’t even purchase additional coverage to get 100% coverage anymore. The Mayo employees are Mayo’s biggest customer. They get everything back that they put into the employees and get to write it off as a employee benefit.
And those of us that have worked there know they aren’t faultless. Far from it. They would be among my last choice for treatment.

QUOTE=Unregistered;21]I left Mayo a while ago. Argueably the smartest / doumbest thing I’ve done.
Being in middle management, I knew things I couldn’t share. I couldn’t handle the deception and inconcideration for employees.
Old line employees that haven’t been anywhere else are hoodwinked into believing they have great benefits. They have nothing to compare to. Almost every whrere else I’ve worked has had better benefits.
They send out a yearly statement that shows how much they give toward your benefits. You can’t even purchase additional coverage to get 100% coverage anymore. The Mayo employees are Mayo’s biggest customer. They get everything back that they put into the employees and get to write it off as a employee benefit.
And those of us that have worked there know they aren’t faultless. Far from it. They would be among my last choice for treatment.[/quote]

I left Mayo in 2006 for better lands. Up north, well…cities. I was a transplant to Croch and after I realized that I didn’t fit in with the mullet crew and/or the IBM/Mayo suit set, I was outtie. 2 years in and not worth my time at all.

So I left. Don’t miss it. Love this board!!!!

I could write many horror stories while I was employed there. So many, such little time.

You have to hand it to the Mayo Clinic’s P.R. (Dept. of External Affairs) and advertising departments, they really are good. To counter the steadily increasing negative drumbeats about the Mayo Clinic they come up with a hack to write this:

Read between the lines – it’s hilarious. Where else but in something about the Mayo Clinic would you read that when he goes to the Mayo Clinic a marketing guy* is turned into a “visiting scientist.” What an insult to real scientists.

When I worked at St. Marys I had to report in for back pain and a couple of other musculoskeletal problems. I’m being vague because my wife still works there.
Over the years I saw four or five doctors in employee health, the majority of them were incompetent and I’ve worked with many over 20+ yrs. The vast majority of those were excellent.
I could tell they doubted what I was telling them. One flatout refused to prescribe a muscle ralaxant or pain med, which I’m positive would have gotten me back to work sooner.
I don’t know if things have changed but where they got those people or what program they were in I don’t know but they were definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel. Probably, no I’m sure, because we were/are employees.

I have a story I have been working on for a while now, and Id like to post it here. That may not be for awhile yet, since Im not done revising.
Is there any special protocols I need to follow? Any rules?
Or is it just post and hope people like it?

too have suffered greatly at the hands of Mayo AZ. In 1999 at the age of 23, I acquired a MRSA infection in my blood and went first to another hospital before going to MAYO clinic Scottsdale. I naively believed that there I would get the best care. I was admitted and sent home from Mayo’s hospital 2 times in less than 2 weeks. I was told I was not “sick” enough to be there even though I had been septic for more than two months, they were also concerned that my insurance wouldn’t pay the bill ( at the time I had Mayo Health Plan of Arizona Insurance (that in itself is irony)). They also accused me of having Munchasen’s syndrome and told me that I was a drug addict so they d/c me on IV vancomycin (I was documented to be allergic to it with Redmann’s syndrome occurring immediatly upon the first infusion which was stopped because of the reaction). They also sent me home with a script for Methadone to “control” the pain I was in that was to be taken in conjunction with lortab, valium, xanax, and darvocet PRN.
So how does it make sense that the course of treatment is to send “Someone home with IV access that they had accused of having Munchasen’s home to continually reinfect themselves via IV? Furthermore how could they send someone home that they accused of being a drug addict (because I was in so much neverending pain) with a script for Methadone (I later found out that this is used to get heroine addicts off of heroine). I’ve never drank, smoked, or used or abused drugs and I would have thought it to be dangerous to let someone take so strong a drug for the first time at home alone? To make matters worse they opted to send me home to premedicate myself via IV with benadryl to prevent allergic reaction to Vancomycin with standby emergency epi kit. And why was that??????? because they were concerned that THEIR OWN INSURANCE may not pay bill!
Well my pcp that was unaffiliated with Mayo was livid and sent me back to MAYO’S ER and called them. In the ER report it is documented that I was to sick to be home and needed to be in the hospital and insisted that I needed an Infectious Disease consult which up to that date I had never had. The ER physician even went further to state that “Patient is quite tearful complaining that no one is taking her seriously.” The result was I was sent home with an appointment for an ID consult to be set up the next day.
On 8-12 I saw their ID doctor at the clinic and was told yet again I was fine. So on the night of 8-14 I started infusing the vancomycin when I suddenly couldn’t breathe and fell to the floor where my lungs proceeded to hemmorhage. With the few breaths that I stlll had left I was screaming “Please don’t let me die!” pleading with my family to keep me alive. This was in a puddle of blood and vomit in front of my husband, 4 year old son, mom, sister and other family and friends before I started to go into ARDS or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. The paramedics suctioned 2000cc’s of blood from my lungs on the way to the closest hospital. There they had to do CPR and intubate me and prepare me for transport to a larger facility. Fortunately, I was Air-Vacced to a much better hospital than MAYO where I lay fighting for my life in a coma and on a ventilator for the next 3 1/2 weeks until they gave me a tracheostomy and eventually were successful in weaning my from the ventilator.
Prior to this my only health problem was a bleeding disorder called von Willebran’s disease, I was very healthy and did not even have asthma. Since then I have had well over 50 hospitalizations largely due to pulmonary problems like pnuemonias, endocrine problems, pylonephritis and ARDS. I have also suffered from endocrine problems such as adrenal insufficiency, SIADH, cerebral anuerysms, hypothyroidism and have had to have my tonsils removed, had a thymectomy, lap nissen fundoplication, gallbladder removed, oopherectomy, and two brain surgeries.
I have to believe that all of this has stemmed from the lack of adequate care and lack of treatment that I have suffered at the hands of Mayo refusing to properly address the severity of my infection at the time and letting a resident treat me with very little supervision from an attending physician. The cruel irony is that they were so concerned about keeping me in the hospital so that they could save probably between $5,000-$10,000 and in the end it ended up costing them several hundreds of thousands of dollars. They even had the nerve to bill my for my deductibles because of their mistake.
I thought I was smart enough to get my medical records from their hospital before they caught wind of how horribly things had gone and could alter my records. They do have the aforementioned statements that I quoted from the ER visit as well as others, but I ran into nothing but brick walls when it came time to find a lawyer to file a malpractice suit against them. Everyone I talked to is either tied in with MAYO or afraid to go against them because they are too big to sue and will drag out and appeal judgements until everyone else is out of money. They also have a nasty reputation for countersuing the individuals as well. So I was one of many that are truly abused by the system with a 2 year statute of limitations but I guess that the only silver lining to that is I was never forced to sign some sort of confidentiality agreement forever preventing me from sharing my nightmare with others so that they may know what happened to me and think twice before they seek treatment for themselves.

On October 12, 2001 I went into the Mayo Clinic, (St. Luke’s Hospital) Jacksonville, Florida for open-heart surgery. I was told I would be in there for six days. Due to a careless mistake the Mayo punctured my stomach in two places. I was their involuntary guest for almost five weeks. While in the Mayo one of my lungs collapsed, I contracted MRSA, peritonitis, pneumonia and my gall bladder stopped working. When I went home it was as a decrepit invalid with drainage bottles hanging from me, infected with invasive candidiasis (from which, four out of ten people who get it, die), a collapsed lung, suffering from excruciatingly painful bedsores and an agonizingly painful wound in my abdomen which, despite following the Mayo’s recommendations to the letter, would not heal.

Regretfully, it seems that the only thing the U.S. medical industry and the Mayo Clinic in particular cares about is money. Due to their mistake, the Mayo Clinic nearly killed me, caused me much agony, took over two years of my life away, and then, after agreeing to cancel their bill (to see the Mayo’s letter agreeing this, please view page 6 at http://www.mayovictim.com), waited until the time limit for filing a medical malpractice suit ran out and then, in May 2005, sued me. A time line, copies of documents, letters and photographs detailing my Mayo Clinic experiences and subsequent events may be found on this site: http://www.mayovictim.com
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Sometimes I look at the Rochester MN Craigslist “Rants & Raves” to see if there are any discussions about Mother Mayo. Often there are and of course, if they’re critical of the Mayo then the Mayobots get to work flagging them so that they’re deleted.

However, here’s one I was able to copy before it was deleted. It’s two and half years old, I mislaid it and have only just found it but it makes very interesting reading. I thought the comment about ABC News and 20/20 interesting and I’m not sure I believe it. Some time after the post appeared I looked the 20/20/ABC websites but didn’t find anything so that part of the post is either untrue or if true then 20/20/ABC took them down. Didn’t Tom Brokaw join the board of the Mayo Foundation a couple of years or so back? Maybe ABC and 20/20 didn’t want to embarrass him. Anyway, does anyone know if this 20/20 ABC thing is true?

Mayo is a great for research, that is all they care about it. Anyone who thinks different is clueless. I know it is a needed entity in this town, not to mention for the world, being one of the top research facilities in the country but let me shed some light.

I happen to work at Mayo, and I’m not going to agree 100% that Mayo treat us so good or even their patients that good. The Office of Patient Affairs is riddled with complaints frequently. If you want to hear a really bad story, check out http://www.mayovictim.com, it’s horrifying. Or, the International Adhesions Society has an entire chapter dedicated to the poor care at Mayo. AND..ABC News and 20/20 have a website dedicated to people who want to make a complaint against Mayo who are willing to tell their story, so they can do a future investigative live public report on the lack of quality care at Mayo.

Now on the side of employment. Fabulous place to work? Watch your back.. tons of employees were cheated out of their pensions at the last minute and ripped off on their retirement. AND…they do not even allow a day off to be home with our kids when they are sick and have no other means of having someone care for them. There was a woman wrongfully terminated at Mayo in Scottsdale because she was given permission to have a leave of absense from work to deal with her sons substance abuse problem for 2 measily days. That’s right, they gave her permission, then they fired her. She dealt with their bullcrap for a measily $12.10 an hour too. She was also stiffed out of the supposedly 10 free “counselling” sessions for employees and their families AND her deductible. If you even THINK about seeing a doctor outside of Mayo, well that is like breaking the law at Mayo! You get smacked with an outside lab deductible on top of medical stuff not being covered under your health care plan. Their health care plan is for being covered at Mayo. They take away your choice to choose your own doctor. The policies are way too strict and favor the clinic over the people. Mayo is know for only caring about what is on their financial statement and anyone who works there and doesnt’ agree, is full of shit and clueless. I have worked there for 18 years. Why do I stay? I’m too lazy to look for another job, I too care about money, or I’d go work at the County Hospital. I get paid more at Mayo so yes, I have sold my sole to Mayo for money. I don’t have to like it there or agree with anything they do, but I sure like the cashola. Thanks to all the patients for overpaying for their care….that pays my salary!!!!

Here’s a quote directly off the net too : “Crittergrlaz: Did I understand that while they treat their employees on a low scale, they still give good treatment to patients?” Oh so true. They have blogs dedicated to shitty Mayo employment policies! Glad there are thousands that agree, just look on the net for the tons of complaints against Mayo and tons of employee complaints. I’m not going to say what department I work in, but I hear them all the time.

During my employment with Mayo, I have transferred departments several times because there are so many tards that work there. Especially the doctors. No one is more idiotic or stoned on meds than them. I agree that they are WAY too sheltered and involved in “mayo” life. THey don’t know life outside of clinics labs and schools. You wanna talk professionalism? I know several pill popping doctors that are otherwise considered “addicts” by all standrds, and it is known by the clinic and they are allowed to keep their jobs. So many addicts at that place! They even prescribe themselves narcotics! One is a friggin surgeon! I want THAT surgeon to operate on me! Mayo doenst’ care, they are getting subsidized!! Did you know a doctor is getting fired at the Mayo in Phoenix for taking a picture of a guys’ junk during surgery because it was tattooed. That was real professional. One of my co workers is a nurse practitioner who is going to be leaving Mayo this year to open a private practice because she can’t stand the dumbass high as hell doctors anymore. She does more work than they do and at least she even does it sober. who would have thought.

Oh yeah, it was all over the news, that Mayo doc who was selling pills out of his garage! Sweet.

You want to talk taxes? Gov. Tim Pawlenty allows Mayo tax incentives to help them lower their overall costs and facilitate their growth. That is a needed thing for all hospitals, not just Mayo, and it is not privy to Mayo alone. Where else does Mayo profit? Mayo price gouges the shit out of people who have to be treated there. THey cost almost double than what the county hospital is charging and how many people can afford the prices they charge? They sue people and put them into bankruptcy even when they make an honest attempt to pay and just can’t afford it. They won’t cut you any breaks, even though they are supposedly non profit…doesn’t make that much sense. Trust me, they are only non profit on paper and according to the IRS. They are TOTALLY in it for profit like all companies are..DUH! The first thing they ask you before allowing you any rehabilitation, is “how are you going to pay for this”, and I know that for a fact becuase my father in law had a stroke and was treated there, without insurance, they were going to release him, like THAT isn’t gross misconduct! No money, no treatment. They flat out asked him, “Before we transfer you to rehab, we need to know how some information about your insurance or ability to pay”. Fuck off Mayo! It’s a friggin brain injury! What assholes!

CNN Money Magazine published an article stating that mayo clinic pays about $111,000 a year in property taxes, that is a complete and utter joke if you think that is representative of their size and the amount of property they take up, and that kind of money a year compared to what that clinic brings in, is pennies, so “thanks” mayo, for the free $100k a year. Big whoop. They use more free services from the city than a 100k worth due to their “tax exempt” status, they get a lot of free priviledges from the state too that far outweigh what they give in terms of property taxes so I’m not counting on the city profiting much from that respect. More like Mayo profits!

Mayo clinic only employes aboug 27% of the labour force in Rochester anyway, people on this board are treating them like they employ over half or something. Mayo is not stupid though either. They employ students of their own college because it’s a tax incentive. That’s why Mayo doesn’t like outsiders and likes to keep their little society inclusive. Under the special IRS laws that govern teaching hospitals, if they are employing students, they dont have to pay FICA taxes, just a way for them to use students to get tax breaks and cheat them out of future benefits. The IRS changed the law, to make those employees taxed under the FICA rule like all other employees and Mayo whined and whined over it and filed petitions and appealed it because they won’t be able to apply and qualify for millions in tax refunds because residents are going to be considered employees. Trust me, the taxes Mayo pays out to the local, state and federal government, they get back ten fold. So Mayo wins the appeal and what does that mean for you? a sheer disadvantage because being exempt from FICA taxes during residency training reduces the number of credits a physician has accrued and could prevent him or her from qualifying for disability benefits in the early years of practice. All so Mayo could get more tax breaks. Yeah, Mayo Rules!

You people truly know nothing about Mayo. You wanna rub Mayo’s balls some more now?? Cuz they sure ain’t gonna rub yours back!!! They don’t give a crap about you, you are a dollar sign to them!

You want to talk about ethics. How many of the doctors and residents are sleeping with married co-workers? How many of those co-workers had to transfer or worse quit their jobs. It all effects the job Mayo claims they do so well.

not all employees uncaring
I have been a 20 year employee at Mayo . I want people to know that there are caring,hardworking people at Mayo that DO put the needs of the patient first.

I work in a lab and I am always mindfull that my mistakes could cause a patient to have a bad outcome, when I hold your blood vial in my hand I remember that there is a living, breathing person out there who needs my help.I know that most of my co-workers feel the same way.Mayo s not the easiest place to work at and I have been disappointed in some of Mayo’s actions over the years including medical treatment of both my Mother and my son. Many employees at Mayo are under valued but still carry on everyday to make a living and to help others!

I was like you, working through all the crap doing the best damn job for my patients my supervisors would let me. I c an’t tell you how many lives were saved going the extra mile when something just didn’t seem right and everyone was pressured for more throughput because we were chronicly understaffed for years… A new supervisor helped at one point but they got rid of her when she refused to doctor documents when they killed a patient in intensive care through sheer stupidity. Malpractice big time but not after all the paperwork was touched up and ditched. So I learned very quickly to keep my mouth shut, do my job and brown nose when I had to to satisfy a know-nothing-do-nothing supervisor who “forgot” to schedule a shift or two on a regular basis. I thought he was bad till the last one took an instant personal dislike to me and I was booted in my 30th year over a “poor additude and participation” in an administrative meeting after working 2 16′s in a row. I thought I knew some people who would help out, but they all treated me like I was diseased….. Loyality and hard work threatens the TEAM so be careful and watch your back. They will screw you to get a promotion or just to look good. The higher you get the worse it gets.

“I thought he was bad till the last one took an instant personal dislike to me and I was booted in my 30th year over a “poor additude and participation” in an administrative meeting after working 2 16′s in a row. I thought I knew some people who would help out, but they all treated me like I was diseased….. Loyality and hard work threatens the TEAM so be careful and watch your back. They will screw you to get a promotion or just to look good. The higher you get the worse it gets.”

That’s a sad story – I’m so sorry for you. If you add up all the horror stories about the Mayo Clinic it really is a dreadful place. They must spend a fortune on PR but thinking people have to wonder how they get away with the mistreatment of patients and employees year after year.

The only saving grace that I can see is that Internet publicity is the poor person’s salvation and weapon when it comes to highlighting corporate greed. By posting your experiences as a 30 veteran of the Mayo Clinic you have played your part. Thank you and good luck.

How sad we received no bonuses this year from the wealthiest Medical Facility in the World. Mayo Sucks, Greed has taken over, and the medical care is going downhill. Lots of employees have quit and they still say it is in the top 100 in Fortune Magazine for the best places to work, LOL

You didn’t really expect one did you? The best bonus you could get would be to find a job where you can get some respect and appreciated that your there doing your best each day. Your just a pawn in their game and when you don’t play right, you will be told that all of a sudden “Your Not Doing Your Job” Wise up and get out before they put you out.

As a non-profit organization, there are never “bonuses” at Mayo Clinic. Non-profit, or not for profit, means there can be no profit sharing. All incomes to Mayo are reinvested in research, education, etc.

I also quit Mayo after being in middle management for 20+ years. It’s true for anyone out there thinking about leaving… there is life after Mayo. Granted I had to take a cut in pay, but I now work for a wonderful company. They appreciate their employees, NOT JUST ON PAPER, LIKE MAYO DOES. There are so many perks I never knew existed in the work environment. I even had another job offer, and was offered a 6% increase to stay at my current job within 20 minutes of telling them I had another offer. That doesn’t happen at Mayo!!!
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we did get a Christmas Bonus one year. It was 1% of your annual income. It can be done,,, they just choose not to. many years ago..It might have even been before the hosptials merged with Mayo
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Not true! I work as a contractor and make less money, get no benefits,
and can’t afford health insurance ;-( I’ve been trying for over a year to
get hired on, but as they say “Its not what you know, but WHO you know
at Mayo!”

FRIENDS; ALL hospital in the United States of America are exactly the same! No one care; no one wants to take reponsibillity and if you tell on a high money making “professional” you’re out the door – makes no difference how many they kill, maime and blind.

Everyone needs to know that the Mayo Clinic abandons patient care. It abandoned my care. I was told by a Minneapolis medical malpractice attorney “you’re not the first to be abandoned by Mayo.” Even the supervisor of Mayo Clinic’s Office of Patient Affairs said to me it abandons (although the word used was “terminate”) care of its patients. To decent physicians patient abandonment is unethical, unprofessional, and unbelievable.

My care was abandoned the day before I was to begin radiation for my breast cancer. Mayo performed the mastectomy and had given me eight rounds of chemo while expanding my breast tissue expander. Then, the day before I was to begin radiation the Office of Patient Affairs called, and said “don’t come, we will not provide you with medical care.” I was stunned. I was told I was “unhappy” with the care I was receiving. Yes, I was unhappy and thought someone at this suppossedly quality institution could help me. When I received the certified letter a few days later, it read I was “antagonistic” toward staff.

Antagonisitic? Well, I certainly questioned my plastic surgeon, his colleagues and staff about why my breast had become so distorted, and more importantly, how he was going to be fix my breast. I wouldn’t accept explanations like “everything went well” or “things are normal” or “this is what sometimes happens.” OK, so my breast looks terrible right now, but how will you fix it? No one could explain to me what would be done because, as I strongly believe, no one knew what to do, or didn’t want to get involved. So get rid of the patient instead.

I dont know how medicaid billing works, but this thing seems real strange to me. If ones insurancemedicaid didnt cover the entire amount of the care, then why dont they ask the patient to pay the rest?? I cant believe they just take what medicaid is offering, and let the patient off the hook for the rest.

I also cant believe they would cut all medicaid patients? They CERTAINLY cant all afford to pay cash, like they want them to, and how is losing all your customers going to help you fiscally?

Mayo has a large number of these “Information gatheres” all over the clinics and hospitals which include all administrators and Patient Representatives. Their stated duties involve “the needs of the patient come firtst or “we are number one! adversing hype.

The real function is to gather any information they can and forward it to their administrator or legal to head off any legal , publicity or regulatory problems for Mayo.

Then the issue is analysized and steps are taken along the lines you experienced. You will probably find that the patient record was changed to blame the patient for mayo’s mistakes, outright fraud, and misconduct.

I know this happens because I worked in medical recordsi and was forsed to carry out the changes.

I finally got so ill that i transfered to Scotsdale. Same story there.

Mayo Clinic prefers to deal with wealthy patients who have better health coverage and can afford to support them with million dollar donations. Of course, they say they’re not for profit but they shun patients with HMOs and patients who have Medicaid as primary insurance.

They prefer not to deal with Medicare patients either. Dr. George Bartley, former Jacksonville CEO, admitted that in an employee town hall meeting when I worked there a few years ago. They even took steps to avoid Medicare patients by shutting down satellite clinics in areas where Medicare patients were heavily populated.

Since I left, they even abandoned the HMO plans that they offered their employees. They switched employees to some high-priced PPO that requires employees to rely almost solely on Mayo Clinic for their health care needs. Basically Mayo Clinic is saying to their employees, “give us back your paychecks.”

The Mayo clinic is extremely corrupt to the point where they claim they are #1 in patient confidentiality, yet can care less to do anything about it. The clinic only cares to serve its own interests and that of their employees, rather than their PATIENTS!!!!!

My sister’s rights were violated by a physician there in Mayo of Scottsdale, AZ, who willfully and intentionally disclosed medical information pertaining to her as a way of blackmailing her. My sister had even recorded the conversation of her sensitive medical information being divulged and shared with my parents as a way of protecting herself when she sensed it was coming since the physician had threatened he would do it several times. I had later sent the copy of the phone conversation to the Mayo Privacy Officer-Debbie Jaskowski, who refused to answer or respond to any of my questions and stated she didn’t have an answer for my sister and stuck to the doctor’s word over the patients, then dismisses the Doctor’s negligence and fabricates a story to us claiming the information provided by Dr. Mohamed Akl, was “OLD NEWS”, when indeed my parents had learned about my sister’s medical information thru the doctor for the first time ever. This was not old news, but rather their way of COVERING UP for the physician at fault. Dr. Mohamed Akl and the Mayo Clinic are a disgrace and are not there to serve the public needs or interests, but rather the interests of their OWN.

This is the most corrupt clinic who apparently doesn’t give a DAMN about any of their patients rights or well being. They are only there to make $ and cover up for their employees with their legal dept. I would not suggest anyone to use the services of Mayo Clinic after our experience. If anything, I would suggest Cleveland Clinic or any other hospital. Mayo is NOT # 1 in Patient Cofidentiality, but #1 in CORRUPTION and covering up for their doctor’s sins. They also have this very same physician working for them who placed his name on publications he never even contributed to or wrote.

Sounds like a cult tome. I hate Mayo, seems like its the only thing in Rottenchester. Rochester as whole sucks. Its nothin’ but a slow movin hick town full of ppl with their noses stuck up in the air. Mayo is gay!

Not only do they change the medical records (now made even easier with electronic recordkeeping) but physicians and health care providers are coached by outside attorneys on how to testify to blame the sedated patient for suddenly moving during surgery and causing his own death!

I worked as a nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital (a Mayo facility) in Jacksonville for a number of years. Whenever a Mayo physician made a mistake, that portion of the medical chart would “Magically” disappear. The nurses knew it was happening, but there was nothing we could do to stop it and if we mentioned anything about the incident, we were immediately stonewalled about the topic.

I’ve recently returned from Mayo Clinic in MN. I have a Quality and Compliance background and was told how great this facility was and “on top of research”. Let me tell you from my personal experience…do not believe it, as a matter of fact, I learned more of what they do not know and it was pretty scary. Mayo is just like every other business, all about the bottom line. Push patients through, run more test (without explanation) and lack of customer care, thus resulting in just being another number and making the $$$. The bureaucratic system is worse than most fortune 500 companies and U.S. Govt. They should hire a consultant to conduct 6 sigma and train their employees on how to treat patients with dignity and respect, listen to their needs and stop running unncessary test without any just cause and not to treat us as though we are ignorate. I had sent all my films and records to their office a week before my appointment and even verbally asked them the day before, on the day of my appointment if they have reviewed my records and films. You would not believe how many different stories I got…. (I will look at them, too busy right now, I don’t have them, we never received them, Oh…we found them,…they are being reviewed, oh no we can’t find them and on and on), I actually had these tracked via my local hospital and UPS, verifying they got them. The proves how unorganized and unethical in lying about their lack of competencies. This was enough to drive any sane person insane. I feel bad for folks who don’t know how to challenge the system and stand their ground and debate with this arrogant attitude they display. My doctor literally told me he did not know what to do, so he continued to order tests, when I asked for clarification, he became hostile and rude and had me in tears. I refused any further testing until they read my current ones. I even elevated this to the patient care coordinator on the floor and main office, and so much to elevate it to the office of ethics and compliance. The amount of stress this caused, made my health worse then when I arrived. It wasn’t until over of week of arguing and defending my rights as a patient to get another doctor, as they told me “tough, you have to stay with the same physician”. So, I support the belief that this clinic is too arrogant for the good of their patients and do not stand behind doing the right thing within reasonable time. Having patients traveling back and forth over weeks demonstates lack of good business practice.

Overall, this organization, isn’t about following their mission statement ” to provide the finest care possible “, it is about making you feel in-human and intentionally creating communication breakdown so you believe your wrong and making as much money to support their research that benefits the wealthy, not the common everyday hard working person and bottom line, not getting the proper quality health care they preach upon.

My recommendation, do your research and homework and go somewhere more local. Look at the website and where most of these folks graduated from. Maybe checkout Northwestern University in Chicago….. I would never recommend this Clinic to anyone, not even my worse enemy. Finally, if you have ever been there, ever wonder why they have so many legal offices inside the building and outside and don’t believe for one minute that their patient coordinators are there to help you…they are to prevent any lawsuits against the company, so your words are against the doctors or other staff and who do you think they are going to believe, so my advise is document every step, who you talk to, time and what they say and make sure you have someone else in the room with you. Pick up a Patients Rights brochure on your way into the clinic and read it carefully, if you make the mistake of seeking questionable healthcare advise !!!!

Everyone needs to know that the Mayo Clinic abandons patient care. It abandoned my care. I was told by a Minneapolis medical malpractice attorney “you’re not the first to be abandoned by Mayo.” Even the supervisor of Mayo Clinic’s Office of Patient Affairs said to me it abandons (although the word used was “terminate”) care of its patients. To decent physicians patient abandonment is unethical, unprofessional, and unbelievable.

My care was abandoned the day before I was to begin radiation for my breast cancer. Mayo performed the mastectomy and had given me eight rounds of chemo while expanding my breast tissue expander. Then, the day before I was to begin radiation the Office of Patient Affairs called, and said “don’t come, we will not provide you with medical care.” I was stunned. I was told I was “unhappy” with the care I was receiving. Yes, I was unhappy and thought someone at this suppossedly quality institution could help me. When I received the certified letter a few days later, it read I was “antagonistic” toward staff.

Antagonisitic? Well, I certainly questioned my plastic surgeon, his colleagues and staff about why my breast had become so distorted, and more importantly, how he was going to be fix my breast. I wouldn’t accept explanations like “everything went well” or “things are normal” or “this is what sometimes happens.” OK, so my breast looks terrible right now, but how will you fix it? No one could explain to me what would be done because, as I strongly believe, no one knew what to do, or didn’t want to get involved. So get rid of the patient instead.

WE can expose – I have all my records cover to cover – as I have worked in the field for years and new where and how to get the info – and yesyou are correct records are achived anytime they have issues – I have a paper in my file that state because of administrative requst. Also Mayo seems to mark records they want shared, so uless you state COVER TO COVER you ont get everything. Please stand with me and we can EXPOSE them and let people know what they are doing.

Thank you
Georjean Parrish
see my Face book and linked in – we can do this.

You people need to quit your whining! If you weren’t happy, you should have gone elsewhere. But to stay and continue to put up with, “perceived incompetence”, only shows your lack of common sense!

As for the lady with the breast surgery, some people don’t heal as well as other people and to blatantly badger staff with the same question is unacceptable on your part. Grow up, life sucks, and yes we all age. It is too bad that employees didn’t kiss your bottom as you saw fit. This is one time I am pleased to see Mayo take a stand.
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People are referred to Mayo and think they will get quality care. Those who have something that is easily diagnosed are likely to be happy, those with issues that require testing will be dropped. As soon as you realize that they are not going to do anything but tell you that you are screwed in the head, you leave a get quality care from someone else not affiliated with this sorry institution.

We are all TRUSTING people, especially of Mayo doctors, and to find DOCUMENTED & FACTUAL medical records that completely contradict everything we were verbally told to our face – is NOT acceptable.
WHAT WOULD YOU THINK if you were told in a Mayo Clinic ER you were in an advanced stage of kidney cancer that had spread to my lymph nodes and lungs. Then see “PRESSUMED TRANSITIONAL CANCER” and only “RENAL MASS” on your medical records.
Remember, the facts are:
I have no left kidney and all associated parts.
I am NOT A CANCER SURVIVOR nor do I have CANCER NOW.
BUT, I am a SURVIVOR of Septic shock, organ and resp failure, spent 20+ days on life support/ventalator 3 months in Mayo. Then rec’d registered letter refusing to treat me as of 4/30/2010, because I ask questions and wanted to understand al that had happened to me. Well this is the only Dr we were allowed to see from Urology.
Please excuse the background noise, and my tone. I think anyone hearing what I heard would be upset an mad. I really need to share my experience so your are NOT THE NEXT VICTIM. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE FOR ANY PATIENT TO BE TOLD – We need to speak up. Michael & Georjean Parrish
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THIS IS A CAUSE I will whole heartedly support and will continue to fight for until it is passed. Sorry, but after my experience, my eyes are wide open, and I really can’t believe we have a few doctors that are intentionally deceiving patients.

I have stated on my FB page, FB notes, grjnparrish worldwide press blog and numerous entries on Mayo Clinic FB wall and discussion page.
This is a RIGHT for all patients and from my recent experience a MUST. Who would ever think a Doctor/doctors would tell you an intentional LIE to your face and minutes later write something completely different in you records. I would never in this lifetime believe what happened to me has most likely happened to many others.

My other cause is to get legislation that REQUIRES every surgical permission form HAS the DIAGNOSIS and SPECIFIC reasons for the surgery. I will never let another person hear the words,You gave us permission for the surgery and I state Yes, but we were told I had a very advanced stage of a rare kidney cancer, that had spread to my Lungs and lymph nodes, and needed immediate surgery. The doctor, also made this statement to my husband and I,I am so sorry, this is the worst part of my job, to have to share this information with you.

There also need to be protection for the patient from retaliation by providers: such as, sending threatening letters and refusing to treat.

If nothing was happening, why would a head doctor from oncology (hematology, oncology and transplantation, per title on the facilitys website) run to the internal legal dept immediately after a conversation with a patient.
I have the recorded copy of this conversation and he only identified himself as a head doctor from oncology. And it seemed to touch a nerve when I asked why would there ever was any reference to TRANSPLANT in my file, and for over a year to be denied the opportunity to ever discus with my surgeon or original doctors. This meeting is what triggered the 1st of many registered letters, firmly directing me to ask NO MORE QUESTIONS, and then notification of refusal to treat as of 4/30/2010., find a new doctor.
My original doctors were Shane Dailey, Erik Castle, Dr Ferrigni all of Mayo Urology.

MY 40 lbs of medical records and 6 dvds of radiological records are available to anyone that would like a copy to see for yourself.

All my medical condition issues have came from the original verbally communicated diag of Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the kidney, which seems to keep changing and has also been referred to as Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the renal pelvis and cancer of the mucosa, by the doctor we where sent to related to our questions.

BUT, somehow I find out in my medical records I NEVER saw an oncologist, and they are telling me I DO NOT have CANCER and not a CANCER SURVIVOR, just a septic Shock miracle survivor, because a highly experienced doctor inadvertently punctured my intestines.
I finally, do know with out a doubt I survived for a PURPOSE: to take an active part in preventing this from happening to another person, and this is the path I shall follow.
Sincerly,
Georjean

We are all TRUSTING people, especially of doctors, and to find DOCUMENTED & FACTUAL medical records that completely contradict everything we were verbally told to our face – is NOT acceptable.
WHAT WOULD YOU THINK if you were told in a Mayo Clinic ER you were in an advanced stage of kidney cancer that had spread to my lymph nodes and lungs. Then see “PRESSUMED TRANSITIONAL CANCER” and only “RENAL MASS” on your medical records.
Remember, the facts are:
I have no left kidney and all associated parts.
I am NOT A CANCER SURVIVOR nor do I have CANCER NOW.
BUT, I am a SURVIVOR of Septic shock, organ and resp failure, spent 20+ days on life support/ventalator 3 months in Mayo. Then rec’d registered letter refusing to treat me as of 4/30/2010, because I ask questions and wanted to understand al that had happened to me. Well this is the only Dr we were allowed to see from Urology.
Please excuse the background noise, and my tone. I think anyone hearing what I heard would be upset an mad. I really need to share my experience so your are NOT THE NEXT VICTIM. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE FOR ANY PATIENT TO BE TOLD – We need to speak up. Michael & Georjean Parrish
copy and paste in browser line

THIS IS A CAUSE I will whole heartedly support and will continue to fight for until it is passed. Sorry, but after my experience, my eyes are wide open, and I really canâ€™t believe we have a few doctors that are intentionally deceiving patients.

I have stated on my FB page, FB notes, grjnparrish worldwide press blog and numerous entries on Mayo Clinic FB wall and discussion page.
This is a RIGHT for all patients and from my recent experience a MUST. Who would ever think a Doctor/doctors would tell you an intentional LIE to your face and minutes later write something completely different in you records. I would never in this lifetime believe what happened to me has most likely happened to many others.

My other cause is to get legislation that REQUIRES every surgical permission form HAS the DIAGNOSIS and SPECIFIC reasons for the surgery. I will never let another person hear the words,You gave us permission for the surgery and I state â€œYes, but we were told I had a very advanced stage of a rare kidney cancer, that had spread to my Lungs and lymph nodes, and needed immediate surgeryâ€. The doctor, also made this statement to my husband and I,I am so sorry, this is the worst part of my job, to have to share this information with you.

There also need to be protection for the patient from retaliation by providers: such as, sending threatening letters and refusing to treat.

If nothing was happening, why would a head doctor from oncology (hematology, oncology and transplantation, per title on the facilitys website) run to the internal legal dept immediately after a conversation with a patient.
I have the recorded copy of this conversation and he only identified himself as a head doctor from oncology. And it seemed to touch a nerve when I asked why would there ever was any reference to TRANSPLANT in my file, and for over a year to be denied the opportunity to ever discus with my surgeon or original doctors. This meeting is what triggered the 1st of many registered letters, firmly directing me to ask NO MORE QUESTIONS, and then notification of refusal to treat as of 4/30/2010., find a new doctor.
My original doctors were Shane Dailey, Erik Castle, Dr Ferrigni all of Mayo Urology.

MY 40 lbs of medical records and 6 dvds of radiological records are available to anyone that would like a copy to see for yourself.

All my medical condition issues have came from the original verbally communicated diag of Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the kidney, which seems to keep changing and has also been referred to as Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the renal pelvis and cancer of the mucosa, by the doctor we where sent to related to our questions.

BUT, somehow I find out in my medical records I NEVER saw an oncologist, and they are telling me I DO NOT have CANCER and not a CANCER SURVIVOR, just a septic Shock miracle survivor, because a highly experienced doctor inadvertently punctured my intestines.
I finally, do know with out a doubt I survived for a PURPOSE: to take an active part in preventing this from happening to another person, and this is the path I shall follow.
Sincerly,
Georjean

The Department of Justice has filed a whistleblower complaint against Mayo Clinic .

“Dr. David Ketroser, the lead whistleblower in this case, is a physician and an attorney,” says a Department of Justice statement provided by Mayo.

According to the justice department, “Mayo billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs for surgical pathology services it never provided; specifically, the preparation and examination of human tissue slides.”

Mayo spokesman Bryan Anderson said that “upon discovering a billing error in 2007, Mayo corrected it and voluntarily refunded $242,711 to the government. We worked with outside accounting experts to ensure this figure represented the complete and appropriate reimbursement amount. The error was identified and corrected long before Mayo became aware that a sealed complaint had been filed and before Mayo was notified that the Department of Justice was evaluating whether to become involved in the complaint.”

But the Department of Justice writes in its complaint that “Mayo asserts that it has refunded some of the money received as a result of its false claims. It appears, however, that Mayo failed to make any refunds until November 2008, after the government had issued a subpoena in this matter. The government also asserts that Mayoâ€™s refunds were inadequate in many respects.”

You have to know Mayo routinely overbills all their patient care when it happens over and over. Happened to me 4 or 5 times so far and I don’t know anything… A friend who works their caught some more for me. Some of it is in the thousands of $$ just on me!

My 80 year old neighbor, a widow is not that sharp any more and I have been trying to help her with her Medicare bills. Mayo won’t even talk to me about her bills anymore, they are so screwed up. She was in St. Marys intensive care after she was found bleeding at home. When she got the bill they had charged her for an operation complete with operating room to the tune of $10,000+ she said. When she called to ask about the charge the person she spoke to said that she would “take care of this” . By the end of the month medicare had sent her the credit! I couldn’t quite believe it but she showed me the documents she keeps and she was right. She told me (and I believe her) that she has gotten Mayo to make credits on most all of her monthly bills. Needless to say I have started asking questions every time I have something done down there. Haven’t found too much on my bills yet, but I am looking and making them credit back everything they can’t prove. Kinda fun actually, now that I know they bill willy-nilly and always in their favor. I wonder how much all their so called “billing errors” add up to in a year??? And how many other lies they tell about the need for tests and scans that keeps their giant machines busy pumping out money. It used to be you had a doctor you trusted with your life and they had total say about your care. Now I hear so often: “We have to” instead of: ” lets think about…”. It like the machines make the decisions instead of you and your doc.

Just an FUC..no wait, Just an FYI to anyone who dares to go to Mayo Clinic if they are not in your health insurance network – they DO balance bill!!!! What particularily bothers me about this is that I specifically asked Mayo, before my spouse had any procedures, if they balance bill and we were told that the doctors there get paid a salary from Mayo so they don’t need to balance bill patients. I was tossed back in forth in phone call and faxes between Mayo and my insurance and each one was blaming the other as to why it did not cap off at our insurance’s OOP max. Now were stuck with a $8K bill because of some incompetent “financial counselor” at Mayo giving us misinformation. She obviously didn’t know what the hell she was talking about. If she had said, “yes, we balance bill patients.” then that would have made all the difference as to what services my spouse would have had done there. Of course, I have no proof she ever said this so it would be our word against hers. When I called to make payment arrangements for this exorbitant amount, I was told that $100/month is too little and that they usually want 10% of the amount due (so in our case $800/month!!!). When I told the financial person that we could not do that much as we are just ordinary middle class she said “you people need to be more responsible.” “You people” ? – can you believe this crap? You get talked to like a dog for trying to do the best you can and it’s not good enough. Mayo apparently only want’s to cater to upscale clients who will leave Mayo a large endowment when they die. They don’t care or want to help anyone “ordinary.” So, in short, go to Mayo at your own peril if they are an out of network for you.

It is all about money at Mayo CLINIC. The default stance of everyone above the worker bees is problems are ALWAYS the patient's fault and the patient is always billed for all the services they qualify for and more whether they actually need them or not. AND YOU PAY AND PAY AND PAY as you just found out. Medicace patients and older patients are routinely overbilled for services not rendered and billed with unreadable descriptions. Catch them in an "error" and the first person you talk to is likely to say OK and immediately take it off your bill hoping you won't turn them in or find all the other overbilling. for those of us who worked at the old clinic way back when, it makes us sick. They even do it to us and keep doing it after we catch them at it!! Complain too much and you get a drop notice and you have to go somewhere else for care because you didn't kiss their asses enough!! I have heard the same is true at their many smaller clinics too.

The Department of Justice has filed a whistleblower complaint against Mayo Clinic .

“Dr. David Ketroser, the lead whistleblower in this case, is a physician and an attorney,” says a Department of Justice statement provided by Mayo.

According to the justice department, “Mayo billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs for surgical pathology services it never provided; specifically, the preparation and examination of human tissue slides.”

Mayo spokesman Bryan Anderson said that “upon discovering a billing error in 2007, Mayo corrected it and voluntarily refunded $242,711 to the government. We worked with outside accounting experts to ensure this figure represented the complete and appropriate reimbursement amount. The error was identified and corrected long before Mayo became aware that a sealed complaint had been filed and before Mayo was notified that the Department of Justice was evaluating whether to become involved in the complaint.”

But the Department of Justice writes in its complaint that “Mayo asserts that it has refunded some of the money received as a result of its false claims. It appears, however, that Mayo failed to make any refunds until November 2008, after the government had issued a subpoena in this matter. The government also asserts that Mayoâ€™s refunds were inadequate in many respects.”

Why didn’t the Mayo staff person tell you guys upfront that you would have to pay 10% each month to pay off the balance? They don’t sound very forthcoming with information. Sounds like they just wanted to get you guys in the door.

Found this entry on their web site – a glossary explanation of “balance billing.” Notice how it does not come right out and say “Mayo Clinic will balance bill patients who are out of network….” Now that would be very helpful.

All the rest of us middle class folks can just drop dead as far as Mayo Clinic is concerned. I thought they were a classy, top notch organization (I guess that’s the “old” Mayo). I should have know something was up when the doctor seeing my husband made the off-hand comment that for “some reason” Mayo gets horrible customer service ratings by their patients. Well, I know why now of course — after your insurance pays, they want you to pay off your invoice in 10% increments!!!!! So if you owe Mayo $10,000, you’d better be prepared to pay them $1,000/month until your invoice is paid. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know too many middle class families that can just shell out that kind of money. What makes it worse is that the financial rep at Mayo NEVER INFORMED us of this expectation prior to any treatments rec’d!!! No wonder they get poor customer service ratings – they’d rather pretend everything is fine, rather than forewarn you of this 10% thing.

I’ve been a Mayo patient for +/- 2 years with out of network insurance. I have a form of cancer that is treatable but requires ongoing monitoring, biopsies and occasional surgeries. At my last appointment, 3 new biopsies were taken. Two required additional surgery. I was informed when I tried to schedule the surgeries that patient financial services blocked my ability to schedule. I was informed by them that I need to pay the whole of my balance (to meet the difference between my out of net benefits and their full fee) before they would schedule surgery to REMOVE CANCER from my body. The Financial Services rep also advised I find another facility for treatment if I could not pay. I’m so angry I could spit. I feel like they waited until I was in medical need of a life or death service and are now putting the nails to me. I sent a records release today, will be transferring my care, and spending as much time and energy as possible advising people that their reputation and name recognition does not equal better care.

Have you ever thought of notifying the media about Mayo? It seems to me that there are a lot of people who still think Mayo is this wonderful, caring place for treatment. They need to be taken down some pegs. I for one am tired of their arrogance and their shoddy treatment of patients. I dealt with a super snotty bitch named “Stephanie” at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville FL. At any other facility, she would be reprimanded for talking to clients that way, but she gets away with it at Mayo.
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in regards to this issue. If you have medical assistance, or medicare, mayo clinic will hold you and treat you against your will just to get the money. It is all about the money. Assert your patient bill of rights, tell them you do not want their medical care, and they will give it to you anyway and bill medicare. So it is not about the rich It is about the money. If that is not medicare fraud, what is?

The Mayo Clinic is not what you might think it is. It is not an organization that cares about patients. Their primary goal is to make money off of you, whether you have insurance, medicare etc. They are going to get as much off of you as they can by scheduling as much as they can while you are there. I would avoid Mayo Clinic at all costs. Reading the posts on this forum confirms it for me. You’d be better off going to your local teaching hospital than this place. Mayo Clinic = Money Suck!!!!!

Yes. The Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville FL is just awful!!! The office staff is horrible. Robin is inept and doesn’t know what she is talking about, Stephanie is a little bitch who thinks her shit doesn’t stink (wonder whose husband she’s sleeping with?) and Rose is a grumpity grump. They are all awful.

Mayo has changed. People used to come here because we could offer a comprehensive evaluation and sincere person-al interest that didn’t stop until we exhausted our collective knowledge or the needs of the patient dictated. We found and were often successful in ameliorating a condition difficult for others to diagnose. As technology increased, an expert system of sorts, developed. Lately that effort has led to a rather rigid system of diagnostic thinking (and more often procedure) by which the clinician’s efforts are often limited to filling in the blanks on a schedule and quota system that puts the patient at the mercy of every single blood test, diagnostic procedure and evaluation he or she is qualified to have by exam, the very same system that limits each clinician’s time and actual involvement with our patients. Certainly this is nnot the type of care taught by the pioneers of modern medicine in my day. No one likes to be treated like a number on an ear tag, just one of the heard waiting patiently to be milked dry. More and more it seems that the powers that be,the administration; that collection of empire builders, known only for what they can document and back up with 0 and 1, is hell-bent on riding this institution into the very ground it was founded on with their complete unknowing disregard for all things clinical. Contrary to their ego puffing public drivel, which we are bombarded with at every turn, that the needs of the patient comes first, the clinicians came first at Mayo. We ran the place. We hired staff (including our various administrators) to support our work of placing the needs of our patient first and foremost. We have always had a certain few budding empire builders who soon (or eventually) learned the physician committee system was the final arbiter of planning for clinical improvement. With so many non-clinicians and administrators filling in for true clinicians (kept far too busy dealing with poorly staffed clinics), the committee system has lost its power to rein in these power hungry careerist, whose only claim to fame is their unlimited greed. I had occasion to observe the inner workings of the ER first hand with a dear friend last year and was appalled by the mess management has made of the place. My friend went back home vowing never to return. I don’t blame him one bit. His treatment was simply awful. And when I made inquiries, I found that it was a well know problem that administration had fostered and was now covering up with statistics (more 0 and 1) and banners proclaiming the great timely care that they are now incapable of providing on a routine basis. One can only wonder how our patients can cope with a system driven to decay by so much greed. Will and Charlie were right when they stated that our downfall will come from within!

Cleveland Clinic isn’t any better. They are more concerned with studying the disease than caring for the patient. I’ve been to both Mayo JAX and CCF in Cleveland. I have multiple conditions (fibromuscular dysplasia, ehlors danlos, breast cancer, degenerative disk disease, multiple cerebral aneurysms, et al). All major hospitals are the same. You are much better off finding a doctor that will work with your rare disease at a qualified small hospital. Those are the doctors that care. They don’t let their egos get in their way (for the most part). But hey, they are doctors….chances are they do have a bit of a complex.

To the first comment “You people need to quit your whining! If you weren’t happy, you should have gone elsewhere.”

Wow. You are probably a Mayo employee. Mayo RUNINED medicine and everyone in Rochester I talk to knows it. It is commmon held belief the recklessly and shamelessly CHANGE MEDICAL RECORDS. THIS IS OPPRESSION and probably one of the largest civil rights struggle for patients.

MAYO has 0 customer service. They use all attempts to cover up mistakes and never change. They take everyone for granted and karma will be a bitch when the economy crashes and private insurance no longer can pay for this GREED and incompetence.

yes you’ll are right mayo don’t care as along as they get money they will go afar as sue they employee for money for a hospital bills and the staff have they insurance that they give to them and they still want them to pay more

I know a few people who worked at the Jacksonville mayo hospital and quit over the last year. all indicated it is directly because of the culture of money money money and not caring foremost about patients. These folks also mentioned that mayo clinic works hard to get rid of bad reviews online. Seems to be all about image and $. Now I’m being told that my own parents can’t go there because they have Medicare! Told us Medicare has low reimbursement rates, that they practically ‘lose money’ seeing these patients so won’t accept them. Went online to try and find out more about this. Looks like there are far more issues than just Medicare. Will take this as a blessing in disguise and hopefully find a better doctor locally for my parents. They worked hard their whole lives to now be punished for having the very insurance they spent 45 years paying into. It’s a shame, but I do appreciate this site at least there are honest comments.

Be very careful with yearly Wellness checkups with Mayo Clinic. I had a mix up with my insurance changing coverage at the wrong time and was charged $1000 for annual wellness checkup in Glendale, AZ because it was out of network. Considering some clinics offer yearly physicals for as low as $25 this is a complete ripoff. I talked to billing on three occasions and the best they could offer is a 10% discount if I paid in full. Result is to always check with the front desk to see if they have your insurance current because Mayo in the end will not do what is best for its patients because their bottom line is what really matters!

It’s a terrible to work if you’re a scientist. If there is any translational research then I’ve not come across any of it during my time there. The studies are poorly designed because MDs quite simply don’t have a clue how to design them but the PhDs have to listen to them because that’s just how Mayo works.

My supervisor routinely told me that I needed to put in 80 hours a week otherwise “things would have to re-evaluated”. Being a post doc we get paid 43K a year. Hardly worth the hassle to even put in 40 hours a week much less 80. I literally felt like a sponge being squeezed for man hours rather than advancing my academic career.

When I quit I felt like I was alive again. Best decision I ever made was leaving that place.

Mayo is a shell of its former self. If it was once great place to work that’s all gone now. The buildings are old and drab and the management just cares about profit.

Mayo clinic is highly overrated! I just went to the one in Arizona hepatology department. I have a 6.1 cm tumor on my liver and two other large tumors. I went there for a biopsy and treatment plan. The first time I met Dr. Byrne it was a nightmare. He spent 45 minutes going around in circles why I should not have a biopsy. My liver is enlarged and my stomach is swollen, lots of pain. I have never went straight to an advocacy department after meeting with a doctor one time until this doctor. I live in mississippi so there is no survival rate here on liver transplants are surgeries. Doctor Byrne ordered a MRI and colonoscopy. He said I was fine and did not need any better treatment. The size of those tumors are overwhelming to my eyes. The girl I made a complaint to I went back again to and she was at no help to me. Evidently they just protect the doctors. You cannot complain to anyone that is a executive or CEO. I called John Noseworthy in Minnesota wanting to complain. Never received a phone call back or any kind of caring call. Mayo is out of touch with their patients when you cannot complain to someone with authority. This liver problem has threw me into a fib because of the strain on my body. I will be dead in less than a year and Mayo has my blood on their hands. Sorry ass hospital!